Utah, Arizona Panels Clear Age-Verification Bills
Utah and Arizona bills requiring age verification online advanced in committee votes this week. Many states are mulling legislation this year focused on protecting kids on certain websites (see 2501170053).
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The Arizona House Judiciary Committee voted 6-3, with opposition from Democrats, for an amended HB-2112 on Wednesday. The bill seeks to prevent minors from accessing porn websites by requiring companies to confirm their age. The approved amendment, by Rep. Alexander Kolodin (R), included clarification that an individual’s identifying information used for age-verification purposes must not be transmitted to local, state or federal governments. Also, it removed language on attorney general enforcement, instead giving parents a private right of action.
The bill is based on a Texas law that was approved by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, said sponsor Rep. Nickolas Kupper (R). The U.S. Supreme Court hasn’t stayed it, and based on the oral argument, Kupper doesn’t think SCOTUS will find a free-speech problem with that law, he said.
The courts have considered only a preliminary injunction of the Texas law and not its merits so far, countered Mike Stabile, public policy director for Free Speech Coalition, the group challenging the Texas law at the Supreme Court. “This has not been ruled on really at all,” he said at the Arizona committee hearing.
HB-2112 is “government censorship” that could inadvertently restrict access to non-porn sites, including those providing information on sexual and reproductive health, American Civil Liberties Union lobbyist Marilyn Rodriguez testified.
Meanwhile, in Utah, the Senate Technology Committee voted 7-0 on Tuesday to clear SB-142, an app store age-verification bill that has popped up elsewhere (see 2501210026). The bill by Utah Sen. Todd Weiler (R) would also require app stores to obtain parental consent for minors.
Many business and free-market groups lined up to oppose SB-142 at the hearing, including TechNet, the Taxpayers Protection Alliance, Digital Progress Institute, R Street Institute and the Chamber of Progress. “Age verification conflicts with data privacy best practices like privacy by design and data minimization under the Utah Data Privacy Act,” said Ruthie Barko, TechNet executive director for the central U.S.
"I didn't write it down, but I think 75-80% of the public comment was against any type of age verification,” responded Weiler. But, he said, that ship has sailed in Utah, which earlier passed an anti-porn law requiring verification.